Not Shiro
by Kalira69
Summary: Keith and Lance have brought the not-Shiro on board the Castle - safely in handcuffs - and he's been allowing Allura to question him, but what can be done with him now? Unbalance; 3


Allura stared, narrow-eyed, at the not-Shiro sitting before her. He didn't look terribly alarmed by his position, even bound to the chair and with his wrists cuffed together.

He also hadn't been terribly forthcoming, although Keith couldn't exactly blame him considering his current situation. Allura might have questions but why should he answer them?

"How do you expect us to trust you if you refuse to answer the simplest questions?" Allura demanded, lips pressed into a tight line.

"Well, he is allowing himself to be restrained. And questioned." Pidge eyed not-Shiro warily, but with a little bit of a softer eye than Allura. "And he _has_ answered some questions." she added quietly, before Keith could say the same.

"It isn't as though he's had much of a choice." Allura said sharply. "Submitting to restraints got him off the Galra ship. I'm still not happy about having him on mine. And he can't exactly change his mind now that he's already on board."

"He could stop cooperating." Keith said tiredly. His heart ached, watching the man who was so very much not his lover, after having been _so sure_. . .

"By what? Refusing to answer questions?" Allura scoffed. "He already _has_."

"Well, for one thing," Keith said dryly, "I'm pretty sure he could get himself out of those cuffs."

"I can." Not-Shiro smiled, sharp teeth showing, as he held his hands up a little more. His wrists were bound together by white cuffs, glowing with the same soft blue lines as most Altean technology, but he didn't seem bothered by them. He didn't try to get them off, either.

" _Very helpful._ " Allura said darkly. "Where was that ship going?" she demanded for the third time.

"I don't know." Not-Shiro said again, seemingly the least bothered by the repetition of the question and answer of anyone in the room.

"Maybe he really doesn't know, Princess." Lance said, although he looked heartsick as he darted a glance at not-Shiro. He'd been refusing to really look at him since he'd helped Keith bring him on board. In handcuffs. Keith's throat tightened. "I imagine the Galra aren't . . . _exactly_ the most forthcoming with their soldiers."

"I am _not_ a Galra soldier." Not-Shiro's bright golden eyes sparked angrily and his sharp teeth flashed.

"What _are_ you, then?" Allura asked, her tone slightly less harsh. "Can you tell me _that_ , at least, if you want me to believe your desire to be here is not to harm us?"

"I. . ." Not-Shiro looked . . . confused, almost. "I am. . . I am made from Other." He lifted his head a little, but there was a tremor in his shoulders as they curled the tiniest fraction inwards; a barely-there tell Keith knew from watching Shiro stand up to reprimands at the Garrison. "I am _not_ Other, and I am _not_ Galra, and I- I do not take orders from the magic-mistress." he said, clenching his jaw.

Allura watched him for a few long moments while everyone else kept silent, and he trembled slightly but did not show any other sign of fear. Was it even fear?

". . .very well. He stays." Allura said, and glanced at Keith. He swallowed, dipping his head slightly. "Give me your hands." she ordered, and Kuro eyed her warily but lifted his hands. All she did was wrap her own around the handcuffs to remove them. "What _are_ you, then? Who?" she asked.

"Call me . . . Kuro." not-Shiro said, slow and quiet.

"Kuro?" Allura repeated, frowning, pausing with the cuffs half off his wrists.

"You-" Keith broke off, and it was on him that those fierce golden eyes locked.

"I am the opposite of Other. I am Kuro." Kuro said firmly, lifting his jaw, clenching it with a faint tremor running through the muscles at the corner. "It is _my_ name. Only mine." he said in a softer voice.

"White and black. . ." Keith murmured, swallowing painfully, and Pidge, Allura, and Coran all looked at him. He shook his head. Kuro was smiling faintly, rubbing his flesh wrist lightly as he rose from his chair.

"What?" Allura asked, stepping back and keeping a wary eye on Kuro.

"Nothing." Keith said, shaking his head. His voice rasped a little. "Shiro's opposite."

Kuro frowned slightly, his golden eyes suddenly not seeming quite so harsh a shade as he watched Keith.


End file.
